


The Moment I Knew

by pedalprince



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Everyone Is Gay, Flash Fic, Fluff, Healing, M/M, Moving On, Multi, Post-War, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 13:12:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16854586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pedalprince/pseuds/pedalprince
Summary: And for the first time, what's past is past.





	1. KEITH - LANCE

**Author's Note:**

> Content warning: mentions of personal trauma and mention of violence/blood especially in Shiro's section - this is pre-slash fluff so eat up the feels

When did he know?

Keith Kogane said himself that he was afraid of losing people. His decisions never revolved around Lance -  _ he _ never revolved around Lance.

He never let himself.

He cared about Lance, sure, but what was it beyond that?

It hadn’t crossed his mind even once.

But things changed when Keith saw Lance dive in front of him and take the hit. Things changed when Keith started truly noticing,  _ caring _ about whenever Lance was in the room.

Things changed most of all when Lance stumbled down the hallway, heartbroken. He was absolutely sobbing into Keith’s shoulder, in such a weak state that he couldn’t form any words. The imagined rivalry Lance had seen before them came tumbling out one day too as they sat together, and not without a few shouts and a few tears, Lance found himself tying up the knots of his life’s loose ends with shaking hands.

His resolve, however, was firm, and that day brought them even closer, like two stars that were closing in to collide.

The last of their barriers collapsed. 

Not all at once -

but with two hands, all the more.

Something in Lance’s soul was so fragmented and lost after - Keith’s internal walls couldn’t keep the flood out. Lance himself was trying to process a gut-wrenching peacemaking over his feelings for Allura, and by coincidence, Keith was the one he had run into. Looking into someone else’s eyes after such a perversely raw moment made Lance’s front totally fall down. 

Keith could only watch Lance crumble in his arms with his own look of sorrow.

After that, Keith realized that Lance had become a bit hollow. It wasn’t even anything specific about his expression or the way he stood - it was the entire aura of his being that seemed dimmed, put out, and cut up, as if the fall out with Allura had drained him of energy entirely.

Lance managed to finally run directly into Keith once again on a cold winter night at the Garrison. They hadn’t spoken in weeks, and it was clear that Lance was avoiding speaking to any of the paladins. He was zoned out, carrying some sort of defrosted corn dinner, eyebrows furrowed, face sunken…

Keith smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to say. Lance eventually tried to walk around him in an arc, but Keith’s arm reached out to stop him before he could go further. It surprised him internally, but he felt his emotions steel, and he turned Lance around with a whirl.

“Lance.”

Something about the way he said it commanded Lance to stop mid-step and turn his head just enough to look back.

Keith’s brain blanked for a second, as if he hadn’t thought further about what to say, but he cleared his throat. 

His grip on Lance’s wrist loosened until he gently let go.

“I’m… not good at these things, like I said.”

_ What are you doing? _

“I don’t really get what that must feel like.”

_ Obviously! _

Lance, though, seemed intrigued, his eyebrows raised. His body had turned so that he was almost fully facing Keith.

“But I’m here. If you need me. Y’know… bonding moment.”

_ Wow. _

_ Run…! RUN! _

But Lance paused for a long while and slowly smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling until he simply started to laugh. It was a sincere, amused laugh, one that felt just like a spring breeze.

Keith initially felt a bit miffed, but when he looked again, it was also the first time he had seen Lance’s warmth again in what had felt like years. Lance’s hair, messy and unkempt, framed his face perfectly. His smile was big, his frame doubled over slightly as he wiped tears from his eyes. Even the harsh artificial light seemed to make him glow just a little.

The silly, boisterous blue paladin seemed so…  _ soft  _ in that moment, and Keith’s heart suddenly felt like it had stopped completely.

However simple, however subtle, Keith felt himself falling. Slowly, quickly, forever, or not, something changed instantly - and he wasn’t sure he minded after all.


	2. SHIRO - MATT

Shiro had always been wondering about Matt. They hadn’t truly bonded before they had been lost to space and time for all that anyone knew, and as far as Shiro was concerned, Adam was to be directly addressed as soon as he returned.

It was the cruel hammer of fate that made Shiro have, arguably, the worst of it.

Pain was no contest, but whenever Shiro felt himself sinking back down again, he would pick himself up with his tired mind and keep walking. It worked, but it was painful.

It was diligent, silent, and kind - never one to tell the whole story.

Matt seemed to open a door that had long been left unopened.

Whenever Shiro sat down to work as commander, Matt would show up with half a sandwich and the biggest grin of all. He would swing around in the spinning chairs as if age had no effect, talk as if Shiro was always listening, and switch between insane coding projects and dog YouTubers like it was nothing. He was rather an enigma in that when it came to addressing their superiors or Pidge, his gentle, mature air would return, as naturally as a river changing direction.

Shiro seemed to idle and, if one looked closely, fall back into his own darkness rather often. Though he was stubborn and quite staunchly wanted to fight his own battles, Matt was always there with that damned half a sandwich, expression excitable, expectant, and kind. There was something cold melting in Shiro’s heart, like a ripped up hole was being slowly patched, whether or not it was against his will.

Adam would drift back into his mind during these times. It was hard to forget, hard to let go, hard to feel any feelings at all, and the last thing Shiro wanted was any more terrible reminders. He had plenty of those to go around. He sometimes saw the blood of the other gladiators on his hand, the blood of Adam, the sound of explosions, the doctor’s words, the fact that without the abductions and the torture he might have just lost his chance to do what he had dreamed, everything crumbling down around him, the astral plane, _the idea of losing the paladins right when they started to feel like the most important thing…_

_What **was** the most important thing? _

_Was he allowed?_

_...Was he allowed to let go?_

One of the days that passed was a rough one, and these exact thoughts overwhelmed Shiro to the point where he felt himself fall from reality completely. It was an indescribable feeling, one full of pain, where he felt himself fighting to get out. It felt like drowning.

When was the last time Shiro cried?

When he found himself back on the ground, crumpled, Matt was supporting his arm with intense worry. Shiro’s blurry vision gave way to tears in an instant.

He was sick of being tired.

He was hurt when Adam left.

He was tired of abduction,

of torture,

of loss,

and of war.

And when Shiro began to cry, Matt’s face never showed surprise. It seemed to become serene, his hand folded over Shiro’s with the kind of kindness that had no pretenses, no ulterior motives, and no pressures.

It simply was.

Shiro started to let himself loosen up a bit. He would respond to Matt’s conversations, however slowly, however infrequently. Matt clearly appreciated it, and would start to ramble on about whatever was on his mind. But Shiro, ever a lover of silence, didn’t seem bothered. In fact, a small smile started to creep onto his face, bigger each time, until the two of them’s banter was an expected part of the crew’s day.

And when he turned out the lights and locked the bay door behind him, Shiro would turn and see Matt standing before him.

Shiro’s walk to him was firm, gentle, and sure.

It would be them, together - here, and now.

And that was all Shiro needed.


End file.
